[IC] The Guardian Angel Project

[WeepingLiberty]

A middle aged woman stood before a room devoid of any decoration or furnishings, a small space that couldn't be used for much. The only other objects in the room besides herself were the hologram equipment. She pushed her glasses up on her nose calmly and deliberately as the machinery booted up, purring in the way only a machine could. While age had worn away much of her youth, the woman's beauty could still be imagined. She had grey eyes that might have once been soft and mysterious but had turned cold and hard. Her hair was streaked with white strands, prominent against the deep black, pulled back into a professional bun. Her attire was strictly professional, giving off the vibe of a traditional police sergeant. Despite her appearance of having seen her fair share of battle, this woman still maintained a kind and just enough heart to be put in charge of the New York City teams. The machines signaled their start-up, lighting up the space before her with realistic holograms of a debriefing room. She was slightly disappointed she could not meet the candidates in person, a meeting she would be attending directly after her conference took precedence over her new position. Empty chairs belonged to those who had not yet managed to arrive at the NYC Head Quarters, and would have to be briefed at a later time. Glancing to her right was the hologram of a young man, slouching against a wall invisible to her eyes.

"Welcome volunteers, my name is Clarisse Nightshade and I will be your directing officer for as long as you are in the program. I must apologize for my absence, a matter has arisen that I must attend to personally, but rest assured that you will be seeing more of the real me in the future. Some of you many recognize another candidate from working previous jobs in similar areas but introduce yourselves anyway. As you know, many of your allies have gone missing or insane, some even found dead. Your safety against this unknown threat is being taken very seriously, which is why you will be sorted into two teams based off of strengths and weaknesses. For the time being not all of the participating members have arrived from their previous locations so missions will be carefully selected if at all. Take this time to get to know each other whether on the same team or not, you may find yourself in need of their help in the future. This may also be a good opportunity to get in some personal training and group exercises in before a field test, it is crucial to know how to work with one another." Clarisse shifted her gaze to the man standing beside her hologram, whose eyes were still closed as he leaned up against the wall. "This man here is Cade Johnson. He will give you a tour of what you need to know about the facilities while you get settled in. Mr. Johnson, I leave them in your capable hands." The hologram equipment shut down and the image of the woman disappeared, leaving behind Cade and the group of Guardians he would be protecting.

Cade pushed away from the wall, his black outfit a complete contrast to the crème colored wall behind him, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. His eyes opened slowly to reveal the red irises underneath his eyelids, a sly smirk curling the edges of his lips. "Well then... Who wants to see an Angel at work?" His voice was silky smooth as he spoke, a left over habit from his player days.

[The_Full_Spektrom]

Thomas smiled as Cade, the man whom the new director introduced, stepped off the wall and spoke out to them. Charming as Thomas may be, this man was definitely more charming, as even his voice was smooth. Sort of a soft, cream, kinda like the walls. A lot like chocolate. Thomas found himself leaning back in the chair and looking at the cieling. He turned back to Cade as the commotion around him picked up with Guardians introducing themselves to one another-- those who already didnt know each other, anyway. As Thomas was relatively new to the Guardians than most people, he had yet to actually meet any of the ones that were in this room. But that didn't matter. What held Thomas's attention now was the shifting wall behing Cade and the fact that Cade was staring straight at him. "What are you afraid of, Thomas?" The silky voice became oddly dark and retained a short lived echo behind it. "Show us your fears." Blood started pouring out of Cade's eyes. SLowly, but still pouring nonetheless.
Thomas snapped up from the chair. His "power" as the officers liked to call it, was driving him insane. Almost quite literally. Well, actually, it WAS indeed literally. Thomas's curse, as he liked to call it himself, was to be able to make any person bring their fears to life within their own mind, and to feel any pain that would have come from the fear actually existing. Enough exposure, and the foe would start to go insane. Eye contact increased the exposure rate, but simply being around Thomas when he willed the power to flow out would be enough to make any person mad.
But he could not stop it from affecting himself. He did not get the fears coming to life the same way it did to others, nor did he get the pain that the others would, but the ability eventually caused him to develope dementia, insomnia, and to start to go insane.
The upside to this, however, was that he had been extremely charismatic all his life, and knew how to keep attention either on himself or away from himself. When he would feel a bout of madness coming on, he was able to either get away from the crowd or draw attention away from himself long enough to keep others from noticing. But recently, it had been getting harder to do so. He would soon have to confide in, at the very least, the Angel to make sure someone was around to keep him from slipping into madness, as it had gotten harder and harder to fight it off, as his passing out moments ago had proven.
'Oh well,' Thomas thought to himself. 'Looks like its time to start the introductions.'

[Reminie]

Sophia tried constantly to prevent her concern from being expressed as she was frequently messing with her right Auditory Booster Augment(ABA) during Ms. Nightshade's introduction. It had been having issues ever since she was exposed to a nearby explosion on a previous mission. Due to the recent reassignment she had not yet had time to get it repaired. After ten minutes with no luck she became frustrated and frantically turn it off. She also turned off the left one so as to not alter her balance. Finally with her full attention, Sophia listens to the other candidates introductions as she tries to follow the voices with her eyes. Ever since she was blinded she worked very hard to rely on all her other senses and put in equal effort into appearing normal when in social situations. Trying to point her eyes at the nearby voice and looking slightly higher to hopefully make eye contact. It's been successful for the most part though she doubts anyone who has knowledge of her condition would mention anything if she ended up staring at their nose or forehead.

Sophia was excited to be working with other "altered" people. Only working with the common human made her slightly uncomfortable, despite how social and welcoming they are. She had only met a couple others prior and they disappeared within a week. Now that she will be working with many others for an extended time, she looks forward to understanding the others. With her blindness Sophia gained an new respect and enjoyment in people's voices. She quite liked the smooth voice of Cade with her natural hearing. Sophia sat upright, legs crossed with her hands folded on her lap as she registered each voice to their owner as they introduced themselves.

[solamelike]

Flint began talking to people and introducing himself. It was his best trait after all and so he aimed to at least know everyone's names. As the hologram said, Flint might have to rely on one of them in the future. As he continued to talk he adjusted his shirt, wondering if there would be a different kind of uniform for this elite group. The man in front of him commented about if they would be getting uniforms for the group and Flint shrugged 'Whoops' He thought to himself as he had accidentally planted the idea into the mans head. He walked away as he felt happy with the group, they all seemed like they could handle themselves if the time arose and so Flint went to sit down to rest. He moved his holster on his hip to the side as to sit down more comfortably.

[ViridianHue]

Freya slid her eyes towards the Angel, unsure of what to make of him. He was an Angel, so she knew he had abilities worth noting, but his attitude seemed too cocky. She expected someone more...serious...to be their leader. Nevertheless she decided to hold off on her judgement of his character until she saw him in combat. If he proved to possess the skills, she wouldn't care what his attitude was like.

She looked around at the other volunteers, trying to judge what they were like. There was quite a number of them, all from different walks of life. She wondered how such people so different from one another could get along as a team. When it was her time to introduce herself, she simply supplied her name and returned to the book she was reading. Small talk annoyed her. She believed one could only truly know another when they have fought alongside each other. She was impatient for the tour to get started so that they could get to work soon.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Rebecca watched the woman known as Clarisse with obvious disinterest, fighting the urge to get up and come back once the speech was over with. Sure she had 'volunteered' for this, but she hadn't been incredibly excited for it. She had her reasons though, and she planned to see it through. She heavily sighed as Clarisse droned on, wishing that this would hurry up and be over with so they could get moving. Not that she was looking forward to the next part, she wasn't a people person. Never was, and likely never would be. As far as she cared, everyone here was just an ally, not a friend or companion. Just someone to be used so they could get the next mission done.

Finally Clarisse finished her little speech and Cade walked up on the stage. "Oh great, it's a kid." She stated to herself, obviously not liking the fact that Cade was obviously younger than she was and there was a chance he was going to give her orders. Not cool on any level. It didn't matter if he was a so called 'angel' or not. She didn't like taking orders from people younger than she was. Granted, Cade wasn't that young so she could possibly warm up to him with time. She was, however, curious as to what exactly this guy could do. She stood, purposefully causing her metal legs to make a loud noise against the floor as she did so. "Alright, 'angel' show us what you can do." She said with obvious skepticism.

[Venom]

A man wearing a hoodie and blue jeans seems a little too casual. But the purple eyes and hairstyle make it to obvious that it is Rao. But opposed to being focused the man was looking intently at the ceiling..Rao was lost in thought, clearly his interest lied elsewhere. In the air he seemed to be writing? But what was it, clearly it was some sort of equation. The entire speech, brief, whatever was clearly of no influence. Rao was stumped he went wide eyed as he turned his head as he seemed confounded, he marked his equation out of the air and looked at the air accusing it for the error. Wait in public. Meeting. Rude. He snapped to attention trying to play off his distraction.

No sooner had he refocused had the holographic woman faded from view.... Probably going to wish I had listened to that. The other individual was quite, cheeky, he tilted his head bringing a hand to his chin. [i] I would like to know more about angels, perhaps he would allow me to gather data on the abilities."Perhaps I could inject him with a chemical agent that would track the energy expenditure." A tendril hidden in the hoodie seemed to jab into his back.."Thinking out loud...quite rude. Sorry." He tries to focus up as another points out the rather youthful appearance of the angel. "Indeed, I had thought our superior would be...similar to you." A spur of a tendril "N-not that you look...I am sorry." He tries to divert back to the angel. "Lets see abilities."

[The_Full_Spektrom]

Thomas stood up and started introducing himself to others. Then he noticed one particular person.
"Ah, Freya." He said, walking over to the woman. "it has been too long." He knelt down just a bit, tooker her hand in his, and kissed it lightly before standing back up. He had met her before on one mission, but that was quite some time back and he had not really seen her since. "How have you been?"
As he was talking, he couldn't help but notice that, in his own mind, her hair was starting to.... slither? Thomas quickly rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the visions. Thankfully, he caught it early enough and Freya's hair was normal to him again.

[Card Captor]

Hanei just silently watched everyone else interact. He didn't know how to approach these strangers, or even what to say, he kept himself busy with some metal dust he had on hand. Using his powers, he made the powder follow his finger, it trailed through the air like a river of steel. He then started to make swirling motions with his finger, and the river of metal became spiral. He kept playing around with the powder, making all sorts of shapes to keep himself occupied, a smile appearing on his face as he played around.

[WeepingLiberty]

Cade's face fell as Rebecca called him out to show off, holding back the urge to respond with his usual inappropriate comments. With a sigh he let his hands fall to his sides, growing more serious as he did so. "If it's a show you want this is neither the place, nor am I the person to do it." He began walking towards the exit, pausing to turn and address the guardians once more. "You've all had a moment to say your hellos to each other. Get up, we're going on a field trip. If you really want to see me at my best, I'm going to need a little help." He motioned for all of the Guardians to stand and follow him through the door, biting his lip in anticipation. Cade was always looking for an excuse to spar with her, though he hadn't had the time as of late. His job was to watch the newbies, but if they wanted proof of his power, who was he to deny them.

The fragments of the shattered weapon fell to the floor, pale green eyes watching the wooden splinters of her sword fall. "Is there anyway you can do this without breaking the equipment?" The voice belonged to a man in a white lab coat with a clipboard in his hand. It wasn't the first time he had watched this girl completely destroy both her target and her wooden practice blades. He could never tell if she were doing this to him on purpose or if she really didn't know how to hold back, and her nonchalant shrug didn't help clarify either. Dropping the broken weapon Silvia reached around to the back of her head to pull her ponytail tight, a couple of white strands falling to frame her face. "How many?" She asked, her voice light in pitch but effectively emotionless. "Excuse me?" The male scientist looked at her with a confused stare, unsure of what she was talking about. "Tests. How many more tests do you have for me? I'd like to start my daily workout soon, if you don't mind Dr. Miles." Dr. Blake Miles exhaled in a way that many would have perceived as defeat. He was silent to himself, those who knew him would assume he was having an argument in his head. Suddenly he was standing up straight with a renewed fire. "Just a couple more, Silvia dear. Why don't you skip the work out today so we can test your stamina in combat." Silvia remained silent but nodded her affirmation to the doctor. It had only taken him a couple of minutes to locate and attach the small round sensors to her body for data collection. "Sir?" Dr. Blake looked up from the monitor and it's calibrations. "I think my sparring partners just ran away." She stated flatly, pointing to the window where a few men had been standing moments before. It wasn't an unusual thing. Many of them couldn't keep up with her in a fight, it was how she was designed. It was only the stupid ones that tried, but even then it didn't last nearly long enough for any useful data collection. Dr. Blake let out a yelp, running out the door and down the hallway in an attempt to catch up with them.

[solamelike]

Flint watched the others, sighing softly at the talk of violence, it took a true soldier to be able to come into a dangerous situation and accomplish peace without having to hurt anyone. Sure some mild manipulation might occur but it was better then having to pull out his gun. Flint quickly stood up. "Well here goes" Flint whispered nervously to himself as he straightened his police uniform and began to walk out of the room. Following close behind the group.

[Venom]

Rao had felt a twinge of disappointment but the environment was not really the best one for a display that could have potentially hazardous properties. But as soon as one curiosity had been laid to rest, the man managed to peek another one. where on earth would we go? Perhaps he would be giving us a tour of the offices? A rather mundane task for one of his supposed status...Truly perplexing. People around him may have noticed his misbehaving hood, Rao himself paid it no mind, but the cloth seemed almost rebellious, jerking from angle to angle, as if at any moment it would free itself from him and fly away....

Rather than walk silently Rao questioned the man. "Forgive me if this is overstepping my privilege, but might you tell me more than just a field trip. I volunteered but that does not mean I am without the need of information...." Normally Rao would not have been so cautious...but the lip bite... A bad sign, generally associated with lust. Seeing as this group is not of the most beautiful of nature, it is more likely he is choking back the desire to see us in a state of shock or anguish. His thoughts forced him to restate his question. "Allow me to rephrase, I would like you to refrain from hazing me, be it with social torment or physical harm....Thank you."

[WeepingLiberty]

Cade maintained a steady pace, easy enough for anyone to follow without getting lost. He hadn't realized how lost in his thoughts he had become until his concentration was broken by a voice. Glancing sideways he looked at the speaker, the strange one with the hood. The power belonging to this guardian escaped him, but after a moment he finally remembered the guy's name. "Rao, isn't it?" His slyness began to evaporate, recognizing that he might have given the new kids the wrong impression. "Don't worry about overstepping anything, I don't." Cade shrugged and returned his gaze forward, keeping his steps calm and steady. "I wanted it to be a surprise but you're right, you do have a right to know." He continued walking forward, glancing back to keep an eye on all of his followers, like a shepherd herding sheep. "As you already know, the entire group you see behind you will be split up into two teams. I can't handle you all by myself, in fact I think I was the back up. I'll be in charge of Beta Team, which is certainly not a bad thing at all, but it means I wasn't the higher up's first choice as field worthy. You all wanted to see what an Angel was capable of so I thought it would be better if I showed you the best one to date. Alpha Team's Angel, Silvia Blackthorne.

[ReaptheMusic]

Sitting apart from everyone with her eyes closed, Anya gently rubs her fingers up and down her large gold necklace. She pays no mind to the spectacles or people, and knows that she would soon a approached. They were, afterall, all guardians here aside from the two angels. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see the people whom they would be guarding.
Must they be put behind monitors?

"They are not lab rats if they have thoughts of their own." She spoke up, with closed eyes once more. The boy, Cade, seemed unsure of himself while Silvia was overpowered enough to handle herself and her fellow male angel. What did it matter that they show off? She simply wanted to be done her to do her job. Yet she waited patiently, with a small smile on her lips as she rubbed at her necklace more.

[Reminie]

With the one good ABA she had, Sophi listened carefully to the Angel fighting. Entertained by the sounds being emitted Sophi was unintentionally staring at the ground, misleading to some as appearing saddened by a deep thought. On the contrary she was amazed by the oddly beautiful sounds coming from the practicing Angel. She wondered how such an intense session can produce such smooth and swift sounds of movement, while also causing the destructive sounds of equipment breaking. With her abilities and lack of sight, Sophi became quite adept at feeling other's emotions if they're not purposely trying to bury them deep inside. But She was slightly disturbed by the lack of emotion coming from the Angel fighting with such effort. She felt nothing from her.
Pulling back her focus she corrects her direction, looking around with her empty, seemingly ever watchful eyes that appear to never blink, before looking straight ahead. She began to focus on the others in the group, grabbing any information she can gather about them before making any social contact. She was disappointed to hear of the group splinting up. She was enjoying being around such a large group of non normal peers. Though she was a little intimidated by Ms. Blackthorne, she knew she would push her own limits. But she still had no preference of Angel.

[Venom]

Rao rubbed his chin once more, the words that fell from the Beta angels face. It was rather conflicting. "Hum" Perhaps she humbled him? No wait! "Is it admiration I hear or do you have an attraction? I would suppose it possible it could be a fear....Though he doesn't hit me as the type to allow any trace of emotion. He hits me more as the acted arrogance as to be perceived as confident, perhaps in order to make sure his team does not doubt his capabilities...I am thinking out loud...I meant no offense." Rao simply looks away, not taking it back. Rather than wait for some defense or scrutiny from Cade he ask yet another question.
"Might we speak with her? Or are we to finish this tour? I have no qualms as it eliminates questions later."

[Rune_Alchemist]

Becca grunted in disapproval as Cade left, with the others following suit. She didn't ask to see another angels abilities, she asked to see his abilities. She quickly followed them, however so she wouldn't fall behind. She was obviously more than a little skeptical of the 'Angels' abilities, for more than a few reasons, so she wanted to see them firsthand. They couldn't really be as powerful as they were rumored to be, could they? No, they couldn't. The rumors said they were absurdly powerful.

"Tch, whatever. Can we just get this over with? I got better things to do than to walk around on a tour. I've had experience with this stuff before so its all the same old stuff anyways." She finally said, obviously irritated with the tour.

[WeepingLiberty]

Cade sighed in defeat, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I offer to show you guys something interesting and all you can do is complain. You should take the example of Miss Anya and Sophia. I couldn't tell you if they were bored or annoyed or not because they keep it to themselves." Somewhere down the hall he could hear frantic footsteps. tilting his head sideways as a skinny man in a white lab coat came barreling down the hall. "You look as flustered as ever I see. Mind telling me what the rush is?" Cade raised an eyebrow while Dr. Blake rested a hand against the wall to catch his breath. "I've been trying to test Silvia's battle endurance but no one wants to spar her. I finally got somebody to say yes but they ran off while I was setting up the monitors." He looked around Cade at the group he was touring with an expression that read 'I know I'm missing something important, but I don't know what'. His attention was brought back when Cade cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. "Don't you worry about a thing, I can handle this." Blake looked at him with a skeptical grimace. "I don't know, Cade... Remember the last time-" "Well this isn't last time now is it? That was a fluke and she owes me a rematch anyway. You might as well get your readings in at the same time." Blake considered it, glancing back at the tour group once more. "Yeah, but what about these guys? Who are they?" Cade laughed and slapped the doctor on the back, watching him stumble forward a few steps. "Our Guardians. Thought I might show them what it is that we're good for." He said this while looking straight back at Rebecca, as if to say 'you haven't seen anything yet'. Blake's eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together. "Alright then, if you insist. It's your funeral, not mine." Cade rolled his eyes and followed the man with an annoyed expression. "You know, for a scientist you sure do have a lot of bias." He growled, looking at Blake out of the corner of his eye. "You know, for an Angel you sure do have a lot of attitude." Blake countered, rounding the corner and beckoning for him to enter. "I might as well get your readings again too. The more data the better. Don't worry about these guys, I'll watch them." Cade raised an eyebrow as he started walking away. "That doesn't make me worry any less." The door slid shut behind him, separating him from the guardians outside. He shook his head and stared at Silvia while the wireless sensors were attached to him as well.

"I don't understand why you continue to come back. I beat you every time." Silvia said flatly, as if everything she had said was a matter of fact. "It's not something you would understand, robot." Cade sniffed indignantly, gearing himself for the battle ahead. The girl shook her head, standing calmly across from him. "I also don't understand why you continue to taunt me when you know it will not work. I have no emotional-" "Yes, we know. You're a robot with no feelings. Like I said, you wouldn't understand." She sighed, a reflexive move that felt right but held no meaning to her.

Blake looked through the window at the Angels while speaking to the Guardians. "I hope you brought popcorn, because this is going to be hilarious. He just never learns. I'm starting to wonder if just more than his chip is defective."

[The_Full_Spektrom]

As the group moved, so did Thomas. He listened in to the conversations and kept quiet. He had no real reason to chime in, anyhow. He was just glad to be distracted. As the Angels entered the combat room, he watched intently. But something felt off. Something to do with his power. He had never felt this before and he wondered if....
"Could it be the Angels?" Thomas accidentally said aloud. He facepalmed at his action, but as he did, he pried to detect fear within the Angels. He felt nothing but a wall. He turned to the scientist.
"Dr... Blake, isn't it? I am not able to feel the minds of the Angels properly, even with a power that should include even the most robotically advanced human. Is there some sort of protection, or are they just not human or something?" Thomas was definitely worried. If the Angels had a technology that could protect them from his power, then the black market could get ahold of it and all he would be left with is his own mind. Not even a sense of direction with his life.

[solamelike]

Flint watched as the angel vs angel match was about to begin. Flint looked to the doctor then back into the room. "Doc, do they have any powers that don't destroy anything..." He questioned, regretfully as he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He knew that violence was sometimes necessary but was it really a good thing to constantly train for the worst case scenario? He looked to his fellow guardians, wondering what powers they held and if they also where genetically made to be more violent.